Download Parallelism Reference - George Brown College

Parallelism
Parallelism is when closely related parts of a sentence fit together using similar grammatical
form. It makes writing clearer and easier for the reader to understand
A. When writing a series of items in a list, be sure that all of your items are in the same form.
Read the incorrect sentence below:
This is incorrect because the items in the
series are uneven which make it a difficult
sentence to follow. By using the coordinator
“and” we are stating that all items in the
series are equal. All items must be in the
same grammatical form and follow the same
grammatical pattern to keep the sentence
balanced and easy to understand.
Learning a second language can be
helpful for improving your job, to
understand another culture, and
communication skills.
Change all items to
present participles
ending in “-ing”
Learning a second language Learning a second
can be helpful for
language can be helpful
employment, cultural
for improving your job,
knowledge, and
understanding another
communication skills.
culture, and gaining better
communication skills.
Change all items to nouns
Change all items to
infinitives beginning with
“to”
Learning a second language
can help you to improve
your job, to understand
another culture, and to
communicate better.
Here are a few
ways that we can
change the items
in the list in order
to make the
sentence correct.
Two of the items in the list include a descriptor. We can either remove the
descriptors OR add descriptors to all of the items.
Remember to check for
consistency among
descriptions of items as well
Learning a second language
can be helpful for lucrative
employment, cultural
knowledge, and
communication skills.
Learning a second language
can help to improve
employment, knowledge, and
communication.
Tutoring and Learning Centre, George Brown College 2013
www.georgebrown.ca/tlc
Parallelism
B. When writing about word groups that are paired by using contrast or another relationship
make sure the items you are talking about are parallel. Look at the following incorrect
sentences. These sentences demonstrate weak relationships between the items and can be
fixed by making the items parallel.
WEAK
I thought I would lose money on
the investment, but instead
money was made.
STRONG
Make both items “I”
statements; Use “some” to
refer to “money”.
WEAK
The disadvantages of winter are
that you can’t go to the pool to
swim or go biking on the trails.
I thought I would lose money
on the investment, but instead
I made some.
STRONG
Change both to present
participles ending with “-ing”
The disadvantages of winter
are that you can’t go
swimming at the pool or
biking on the trails.
C. Parallel form is also necessary when making comparisons. Without it we can create faulty
comparisons that can change the meaning of the sentence. Look at how we can change the
following incorrect comparison to make more sense and convey a clearer meaning.
UNCLEAR
The voice of a twenty-year-old
is usually lower than a ten-yearold.
Conveyed Meaning
A voice is lower than an
entire child. Make the nouns
possessive to speak only
about the voice.
UNCLEAR
Conveyed Meaning
Peas can cook faster in a
microwave than a pot.
The peas have the ability to cook
faster than a pot. Add a preposition
to change what is being compared.
Tutoring and Learning Centre, George Brown College 2013
CLEAR
A twenty-year-old’s voice is
usually lower than a tenyear-old’s.
CLEAR
Peas can cook faster in a
microwave than in a pot.
www.georgebrown.ca/tlc